NBC News President Noah Oppenheim was reportedly handed a new contract while the network’s reputation was hit by new allegations that it sat on reporting about Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual harassment. The Wall Street Journal reports Oppenheim was given the new contract “in recent months,” possibly as a precursor to Oppenheim succeeding Andy Lack as network chairman after the 2020 presidential election. Lack and Oppenheim have been at the center of controversy in recent weeks since former contributor Ronan Farrow claimed that NBC News stifled his reporting about Weinstein. In his book published last week, Farrow claimed NBC didn’t publish his work in part because of an alleged threat from Weinstein that he would reveal damaging information about Today host Matt Lauer. Lauer was later fired from his job after a colleague accused him of sexual misconduct in an internal complaint. Lack said management wasn’t aware of Lauer’s alleged misconduct before the official complaint.
